Lemasson (Henri) Views of Tahiti and Moorea, 1895-1897

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Summary

Title:
Henri Lemasson Views of Tahiti and Moorea
Dates:
1895-1897
Creators:
Lemasson, Henri, 1870-1956
Abstract:
The album contains 52 collodion photographs of Tahiti and Moorea by Henri Lemasson. Included are coastal views and interior landscapes, views of Papeete's streets and buildings, and photographs of Tahitians.
Extent:
1 album(s) (52 photographic prints)
Language:
Collection material is in French.
Preferred citation:

Henri Lemasson views of Tahiti and Moorea, 1895-1897, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 2002.R.22

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2002r22

Background

Scope and content:

The majority of the 52 collodion photographs by Henri Lemasson contained in the album are views of Tahiti and Moorea. Included are coastal views and interior landscapes, views of Papeete's streets and buildings, and photographs of Tahitians. Also included are photographs of the king's palace, the tomb of King Pomare V (the last king of Tahiti), a police building on the island of Moorea, and two photographic reproductions of art works: Paul Louis Narcisse Grolleron's 1888 Sœur Saint-Henri de l'hospice de Janville s'oppose à un officier and Jean Alexandre Coraboeuf's engraving after Jean-Léon Gérôme's 1846 painting Le combat de coqs). Twenty-seven photographs are identified as Papeete, Tahiti, and nine views are of the nearby island of Moorea. This album may be one of Lemasson's sample albums which he used to sell his photographs.

The album is half bound in black leather with dark brown leatherette covers. The endpapers are black and yellow marbled paper. An oval label adhered to the front paste-down reads: Au Louvre / Rayon de photographie / No. 73. The blue board mounts with printed orange borders are consecutively numbered by hand 0 to 51, above the center of each photograph. French captions are written on the mounts below each image; these serve as titles for the photographs.

Biographical / historical:

Henri Lemasson was stationed in Papeete, Tahiti where he served two terms as postmaster (1895-1904 and 1912-1925), as part of the French PTT administration (the former French Postal and Telecommunications service). He photographed events, people, and locations in Tahiti and other nearby islands. Paul Gauguin, who was in Tahiti during the same period, had his paintings photographed by Lemasson and also seems to have owned some of Lemasson's photographs.

Lemasson wrote Notice sur les é́tablissements français de l'Océ́anie (Paris: Alcan-Levy, 1900) as part of the series Exposition universelle de 1900. Colonies et pays de protectorats. Although uncredited, Lemasson's photographs are reproduced as illustrations in this work.

Three of Lemasson's photographs, Tête de vahiné, a portrait of Noho Mercier of Vairo; Tahitiens, depicting a scene of two men peeling breadfruit; and Vallée de Fataoua, showing the Diadème, the summit of the island of Tahiti, were used on a series of stamps for the French Establishments of Oceania (French Polynesia). Known as the "type Lemasson" and first issued in 1913, the designs were used until the end of the 1920s.

Acquisition information:
Acquired in 2002.
Processing information:

Processed and cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn and Jamie Allen in 2015; finding aid encoded by Holly Larson with grant funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in 2010. Guynn upated the finding aid in 2024 prior to digitization of the collection.

Arrangement:

Arranged in a single series: Series I. Henri Lemasson views of Tahiti and Moorea, 1895-1897.

Physical location:
To access physical materials on site, go to the library catalog record for this collection and click "Request an Item." Click here for access policy.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Beth Ann Guynn
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-09-11 07:46:13 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Terms of access:

Contact Library Rights and Reproductions.

Preferred citation:

Henri Lemasson views of Tahiti and Moorea, 1895-1897, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 2002.R.22

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2002r22

Location of this collection:
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688, US
Contact:
(310) 440-7390
Website